Well, the crust came out tough as old shoe leather, but the lemon filling, and the accompanying blackberry sauce were quite nice. Mom and Dad were of great assistance and searched out several chess pie recipes for me to chose from. I purposely chose a recipe that called for corn meal in the filling because I wanted to see how it would turn out. So I used the pie and crust recipe from New Southern Cooking by Nathalie Dupree (1986) and a blackberry sauce recipe from Lee Bailey's Southern Food and Plantation Houses (1989).
After inspecting several varieties of white corn meal, yellow corn meal, corn flour, masa, polenta, etc. etc. I bought a little bag of what seemed to be finely ground yellow corn meal. To reassure myself that the pie wouldn't be gritty, I passed the corn meal through a sieve but it really wasn't necessary. The texture was quite pleasant, without a hint of grit. I think the crust was so bad because it had to be pre-baked; I must have over-cooked it. I think next time I would substitute a shortbread base from my favorite lemon bar recipe to use as crust. The pie itself was rather sweet, so the slight tang of the berry sauce was nice to cut the sweetness. My new pie basket was wonderfully helpful.
5 comments:
I can't believe that in this day and age there is no trans-Atlantic blackberry sauce hose. What good is technology if not to share rum soaked berries with our loved ones?
I'm surprised that you have never had lemon chess pie. My college days had led me to believe that it was a staple of Texas cafeterias. We must have had it at least twice a month in the dorms. In fact, I think they served lemon chess more than pecan pie. Doesn't Bevo like chess pie?
Ellen,
What college did you go to? We went to the same college and I have NO recollection of any type of pie, let alone chess pie, being served at all. I guess different people notice different things...
your pie-loving sister, susan
Susan! How is this possible?? We've got to remedy this. You and lemon chess pie would be good friends. I'll have to introduce you.
The next time I see Bevo, I'll ask him about the chess pie. He makes his own pies, or course, although of a totally different sort.
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